Destiny is but one path of many
by Eruanna3594
Summary: Destiny is but one path of many. And sometimes, it's better if that one path isn't the one that happen. *Merlin/Morgana. Rated M for description of rape scene. I tried to be as NOT graphic as possible, but this is my best.*
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin, as much as I want to. :(**

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**A/N: I mentioned in the latest update of the latest chapter of my main story, that working on 10 different stories (most of them are unpublished) at once is one of the reasons on why my development of the story "A Witch's Quest of Mount Doom" has been delayed. So, as an apology, I posted one of the stories responsible of delaying the development. This story is the most developed story in my list at the moment, second only to my main story. This one already has a complete outline, and properly brewed concept. I hope you can enjoy this story. For those who are waiting for my next update on AWQMD and reading this note, I'm really sorry.**

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**Story Description**

Title: Destiny is but one path of many

Category: Fanfiction TV Shows Merlin

Verse: Merlin AU. Diverged from S02E04 "Lancelot and Guinevere".

Rating: M

Warning: Mentions and description of rape scene.

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**Prologue**

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Tricky thing destiny is. It may happen, it may not happen. A single minor event could cause a great divergent that could stop destiny.

This time, the single minor event was simple. Henrick said no to Hengist when Hengist ask him to capture the Lady Morgana. Henrick wanted the gold for him and his men, not for Hengist. Because of that, they started to spread rumour that there would be bandits attacking the Lady Morgana's pilgrimage procession at the afternoon, and it caused the Lady Morgana to leave much earlier in the morning instead. Unbeknownst to them, the single word, "No," had changed the course of destiny so greatly until it ceased existing.

With destiny out of the way, what would happen?

What people tend to ignore is that destiny is but one path of many. And sometimes, it's better if that one path isn't the one that happen.


	2. Chapter 1 The Wrecked Pilgrimage

**Disclaimer: I still do not own Merlin, sadly. :(**

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**Chapter 1: The Wrecked Pilgrimage**

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"I hope your trip isn't too upsetting," Merlin heard his master said to the Lady Morgana. Merlin smiled as he petted Gwen's horse. Morgana and Arthur were just like brother and sister. They bickered everyday about everything, but when they were going to be separated, they were suddenly so caring about each other.

"Thank you, Arthur," Morgana replied.

"Gwen, the horse is ready," Merlin said to Gwen, who was on the opposite side of the horse, but there was no answer. "Gwen?" Merlin asked, all the while lifting up his face to see the woman he was talking to. The woman whose eyes were following the movement of one Arthur Pendragon. Merlin rolled his eyes. On the background, Arthur was instructing the knights to make sure they returned before dusk.

"Gwen, time to get on your horses," Merlin said a little bit louder to get Gwen back to reality. Gwen flinched a little before she awkwardly smiled and said, "Of course, Merlin," without showing any sign of getting on the horse. Clearly she didn't listen to any of Merlin's words.

Merlin sighed exasperatedly and said, "The horse."

"Oh."

Merlin helped Gwen to get on her horse shortly before they departed.

Merlin wistfully watched them leaving the courtyard. His eyes were glued firmly on the Lady Morgana. The most beautiful lady in Camelot. The one with the most fiery spirit and kindest heart. The one he had foolishly fallen for. Merlin scolded himself every day about his affection to Morgana. He did. Because he knew Uther would never allow him and Morgana to be together. That is if he were lucky enough to win the said lady's affection. Which he was sure he would never have.

He had been having this fascination since the druid boy incident. Days and night, Merlin, Morgana, and Gwen took turns to watch the boy, to keep him safe. Often at the time, he found that he and Morgana were left alone in her chamber, only accompanied by the sleeping boy behind the curtain. In time, their friendship grew, and before he knew it, he had fallen for her, hard.

Things just got worse a few weeks ago. It was when Morgana found out she had magic and she ran to Merlin for comfort. Merlin's heart was torn at the time. In truth, he wanted to help her with all that he can, but he had been warned against it. Not only by Gaius, but also by the thousands-year-old dragon under the castle. In the end, he sent her to the druids to get help. A decision that resulted in the death of hundreds of innocent people.

_Maybe you don't love her enough. _a thought flashed in his mind. _If you still keep secrets from her when she needs you, maybe you don't love her enough._

Merlin shook his head. Enough with his ridiculous train of thoughts. He and Morgana could never be, no matter he loved her enough or not. Anyway, he had a destiny to take care of. He looked at his destiny and saw him still watching the departure of Morgana and Gwen. Merlin picked up the practice target he put on the stairs before he took care of Gwen's horse. Then he woke his destiny from his disgustingly romantic and pathetic thoughts about Gwen.

* * *

"You look troubled, Gwen," Morgana said, bringing Gwen out of her stupor. Curiosity and a little smugness was clear in her voice.

Gwen tried to brush off Morgana's curiosity by smiling wide. "I'm fine," she said. She finished it with a laugh that she quickly regretted. Her laugh sounded awkward and unsincere. She could only hope that Morgana would realise that her maid was not really in the mood to talk about her problems.

But of course she couldn't have what she wished. "You're very secretive these days. I'm beginning to think that there's a man involved," Morgana pushed her for answer. Gwen let out a dry laugh at the fact that Morgana's guess was not at all far from the truth. She was thinking about her impossible affection for the Prince of Camelot. "When do I get to meet any decent men..." _that I could be together with?_

Suddenly, Gwen had an idea. "And what about you, milady?" she asked her. "Has a decent man managed to steal your eyes lately?"

Morgana scoffed. "No, of course. Most of the men I met lately if were not to old then were not even decent. Surely you know, Gwen, you were with me when I met each and every one of them."

"Really?" Gwen raised her eyebrows and smirked. "Well, what I do know is that you have been spending a lot of time watching a certain servant who was traipsing around a certain prince from your window. Surely that was called, 'stealing your eyes'?"

Gwen's smirk only grew wider as she watched her mistress blushed. "Hush, Gwen. I admit that Merlin does have a certain charm, but only that. He is just one of my best friends. And how many times do I have to tell you to not call me 'my lady'?" she said, clearly desperately trying to change the topic of conversation by adding the last part.

Gwen smugly nodded at her mistress' words. She could say all she like, but Gwen knew that Morgana was interested in Merlin. But her smile faded instantly as she remembered that the chance of Morgana being with Merlin was just as much as the chance of her being with Arthur, which was almost impossible. Gwen sighed and went back to her stupor as the thought of Arthur and their relationship flooded her mind once again.

A sudden loud cry slapped her back to reality. She looked around and saw a bunch of bandits riding down the hills to attack them. Her mind was panicked. Morgana and she were on pilgrimage to Morgana's father's grave. Neither she nor Morgana was carrying weapon. Everything was in a blur. Bandits killed knights, knights killed bandits. Swords were clashing. And Gwen didn't know what to think or where to go. Her mind just blanked.

"My ladies," Sir Robert called. "You must follow me," he said. The hope of survival that sprang in her heart vanished when Sir Robert was shot with an arrow on his back. Morgana and Gwen's eyes widened as his horse ran past them, carrying its dead master on its back.

Their misfortune didn't end there. A pair of hands grabbed her and pulled her off her horse. And judging the fact that she could her Morgana screaming, they also took her. Gwen's mind shouted only one name as fear overtook her. _ARTHUR, HELP!_

A sword suddenly slashed her restrainer's arms. Gwen looked up and see an older knight still fighting on his horse. He was clearly dying, but he intended to make sure that the ladies could escape before he died.

"Gwen!" she heard Morgana called her. She turned his head towards the source and saw Morgana free of restraining. Thank the gods. "Head for the path! Go" her lady instructed. Gwen nodded and ran on her lady's heels.

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Morgana led Gwen out of the battle field. They had to run. They had to escape.

She climbed the hills on the side of the road with Gwen right behind her. She looked up and her heart was filled with dread as she realised all of the bandits were on the battle field. One of them, presumably the leader, was just watching up there with some of his men, and now, he was blocking their way to escape.

"I warn you, I'm Uther Pendragon's ward. He'll have your heads if any harm comes to me," she declared as strong as she could. She was scared, that was true. But she would not let these men see through her fear.

The man who Morgana thought was the leader pulled down the kerchief that was previously covering his nose and mouth. "I have no intention of harming you," he said. "At least not yet. You're much more valuable to me alive, Lady Morgana," he continued with a small mock bow. A part of Morgana was fuming at the man's disrespect, but most of her was still scared, now more than before because she could see that the knights were falling.


	3. Chapter 2 The Scarring Torture

**Disclaimer: Merlin is the most adorable character in the best show that I can never own.**

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**A.N.: I apologise beforehand if this chapter seemed illogical. I've squeezed my brain so hard, and this is the best I can come up with.**

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**Chapter 2: The Scarring Torture**

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"It's not even noon yet. When they realise we're in danger, we'll already be miles away," Morgana paced inside the tent.

"What are we supposed to do, Morgana?" Gwen sat on the ground, silent tears were running down her face. She might refuse to show her fear in front of the bandits, but when they were alone, the girl broke down. Poor Gwen.

"Oh, Gwen. There must be something we can do. Don't cry," Morgana kneeled in front of her maid and tried to cheer her up. Gwen smiled at her mistress' kindness, the one that Morgana returned wholeheartedly. Morgana stood up and paced around the tent again as she thought.

Morgana turned her head towards her maid when she heard her whispered something. "What?" she asked.

The maid vigorously shook her head and said, "Nothing." But Morgana could see that she was hiding something. Morgana smiled as she thought, _I swear I heard her said something about Arthur._

"Maybe we could trick them?" Gwen tried to give a suggestion.

"Yes, I know that, Gwen. But how?" Morgana replied with an eye-rolling.

Morgana paced around the dirty tent again. One time, she got too close to the cloth that was used to shelter them. _Ugh. This tent stinks. _Morgana thought as she wrinkled her nose in disgust. This tent really need to be washed.

Wait. Stink. Wash. This might be what they need. She looked at Gwen, who was staring at her. "Gwen, I have an idea."

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"I wish to bathe," Morgana declared to the bandits.

"What? So you can make a run?" the bandits laughed off her request.

"I am the King's ward. I am accustomed to certain... standards. I see that you are used to stink like a pig, but I am not," she replied confidently.

But the bandits only laughed again. "It's noon. Why would you want to take a bath at this time? No one takes a bath at this time."

Morgana mentally smacked her forehead. How could she forget to consider this? She ransacked her brain for answer. No. She must find a way to make them let her bathe. This plan must work.

"No one? You're wrong. I take baths every noon. Why would I take my maid with me in this trip if not for helping me with my bath? To fend off stinky bandits like you?" Morgana lied smoothly.

"Very well," the leader of the bandits finally said. Hearing that, Morgana released the breath she didn't realise had been holding. But then he turned to his men and said loudly, "Lady Morgana wishes to bathe. Who will accompany me to guard her?"

Morgana's eyes widened. How rude these men are. She was going to take a bath, not going on a picnic. Bathing needs privacy. But then again, these are no gentlemen of Camelot. She should have guessed this would happen. Morgana calmed her mind. At least when they were going to run, there were only one or two men with her, instead of the whole pack like this.

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_My plan worked. It worked nicely!_

Her mind screamed in happiness as she ran with Gwen through the trees in the forest. She replayed the scene in her head. Oh how predictable those men were. All Morgana had to do was to strip slowly in front of them, and they instantly forgot about Gwen. Before she was naked, Gwen had already managed to steal their leader's sword and tossed it to Morgana. And Morgana's swordfighting skill was not to be underestimated. She had defeated Arthur, the dubbed best swordsman in Camelot, several times in her life. That was saying something. Easily, she fended off the bandits and ran. True, she was supposed to be embarassed for getting away in such a lowly, slutty way (her undergarments were the only things covering her from nakedness), but she had to admit, freedom, whichever way it was received, was sweet. Now all she had to do was to reach Camelot, and...

_Ouch!_

"Milady!" Gwen exclaimed in surprise when she saw her mistress tripped over a root and fell. She ran towards her mistress and helped her to stand. "Come on, milady, we had to run," she said. Faintly, she heard the bandits catching up with them. Her mind panicked. "My lady, come on!" she shouted again when Morgana fell back to the ground halfway standing.

"Gwen, I can't. You must go," Morgana said.

Gwen froze when she heard her mistress' words. Her mind was full of denial. "No!" she whispered.

"Gwen..." Morgana continued, but Gwen quickly cut her sentence.

"NO!" she exclaimed. "No, I will not leave you here, Morgana. Not ever. We have to escape, come on!" she tried to help Morgana to stand again.

"You have to go and get help. If both of us were caught again, all we had done would be for nothing. Go to Camelot, and get help, now!" Morgana slapped Gwen's hands. Gwen froze again, she didn't know what she had to do. What Morgana said was logically true, but Morgana was her mistress. She loved her as a best friend. She couldn't leave her alone with the bandits. Her heart didn't allow her to. Especially because she had a really bad feeling about leaving her alone in the woods this time.

"Go," Morgana's word unfroze her. She looked at the Camelot castle. It was quite near now. "GO!" Morgana shouted.

Gwen reluctantly left her mistress in the woods. "I'm sorry, my lady," she cried. She felt tears running down her face.

She saw Morgana nodded as she dragged herself to a tree. "Go, Gwen. And get help," she said.

Gwen ran a few more paces and looked back. Morgana was standing behind, or more like leaning on, a tree, sword in hand. Gwen couldn't help but to feel a spark of pride for being the servant of such a strong and kindhearted mistress. She continued to run, and tried to shook her worries. Morgana would be fine. She was strong. She would survive this. Gwen felt hope sprung in her heart. Yes. If someone was goint to survive this, it would be her Lady Morgana.

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Morgana prayed in her heart. May the gods be with Gwen. For both their sakes, may they be with Gwen. She struggled in her captor's arms. She fought them well, but even in perfect condition, she was no match to a bunch of bandits when she was on her own. The fight only lasted for a few minutes, and ended with her being captured again. She looked around and see some bandits laid dead on the ground. She smirked at her work. At least she had proven that she wouldn't go without a fight.

She felt a hand slapping her cheek. Her heart was torn between feeling humiliated for being slapped or proud because that meant that the bandits had received her not-giving-up message and taken it sorely. "You think you could get away by using our hospitality?" the man's voice was full of scorn.

"Hospitality?" she snorted. "Hospitality is given to guests, not prisoners, and admit it, I am not your guest, I am your prisoner. Don't flatter yourself," she spat back at the leader. The leader of the bandits laughed, and so his cronies followed.

"No matter, you are now here, in my 'care', and Uther is going to pay me for taking care of you," the man said.

Morgana sneered. "You don't know Uther, do you?" she said. "He is not the type that pays ransom when something precious of his was stolen. No, he isn't," she continued. All the bandits had ceased laughing. Morgana smirked in her attempt to get them to release her. "He is the type that hunts down the ones who took his treasure away and chopped their heads off. When he gets your message, he won't send you money to redeem me. He will send the Prince, and his knights to find you, save me, and kill each and every one of you," she said convincingly. At least she hoped she sounded convincing enough. "Or maybe he will let you live for a while, as you all are dragged to Camelot, awaiting the fall of the axe on your neck. Or worse, he will have you screaming in pain as fire engulfed your bodies..." she continued with another smirk. "Slowly."

Silence engulfed the place as the bandits took in her speech. She could see some of the men glared at their leader, seemingly angered for not being told of the possibility of such gruesome death. But then the doubt disappeared in their face as their leader started to speak again.

"He won't dare do that," he said. "Why? Because if he does that, his beloved ward,_ you_, is going to lose her life. Everybody knows how he loves his ward, don't you think?" the man finished with a laugh. "Come on, bring her back to the camp!"

His laugh stopped when Morgana spat on his face. "I will not be going back to that wretched camp of yours!" Hearing Morgana's refusal and feeling humiliated by the fluid now staying on his face, the leader of the bandits slapped Morgana's face. "Listen, you minx. You might be more valuable to me alive, but that doesn't mean I won't hesitate harming you. If you want to survive this, I suggest you to stop acting like you are the one in power here. We are hospitable enough to you so far, but if you keep up this act, do not blame us for the lack of hospitality we will be showing you," the man warned Morgana.

Morgana scoffed. "Turns out you are not only rude, but also stupid and deaf. Haven't I said it to you once already, that I am not your guest, thus what you showed me was not hospitality? What a bunch of brain-idled toads!" she said while she wrenched herself out of her captor's arms and struggled to gained balance on her sprained legs.

"Then what did you call the courtesy I gave you? The one you so ungratefully used to run away with your wench?" the man snapped back with a scowl on his face.

"That? Oh, that was STUPIDITY, you idiot! You easily let your guard down to satisfy your whims. Ha! 'Hospitality'?!" Morgana answered scornfully.

"Enough, young _lady_," the bandit grabbed both of Morgana's wrists and kept her from struggling. "You are testing my patience. I'm starting to think you are not worth the gold," he hissed. But it was not like Morgana to back down out of threats like this. Anyway, what could they do to her? Kill her? That meant they threw away their chance to receive a large sum of gold from Uther. The worst they could do to her was hit her, she guessed, if they still wanted their gold.

With confidence of such thought, Morgana wrenched free her right wrist and backhandedly slapped the bandit.

Out of shock, the man released Morgana's left wrist to rub his sore right cheek. Morgana could see his eyes bulge out of their sockets, in a mix of anger and shock. Then in horror, Morgana watched as the man's expression went blank. _What's happening? _she thought while she looked around the men.

"Men," the man in front of her said. "I've been thinking, what are we doing this for? Gold?" he looked around and saw some men grunted and nodded in agreement to what he said. "And what do we spend our gold on?" he asked again and paused, waiting for someone to answer him. "You," he pointed to one of the men. The pointed man looked around before he pointed to himself and asked, "Me, Henrick?"

"Yes, you, Drego. What will you spend your share of gold on?" he asked Drego. Drego looked around and seemed reluctant to answer. "Come on, don't be shy. I am just asking around," the leader, now known to be called Henrick, said to Drego with a conspirative smile. Encouraged, Drego spoke more confidently, "I... I will spend it on ale." The men grunted and nodded again in agreement.

Henrick nodded. "Ale. Good choice. I heard there is a tavern in the border of Mercia that sell mugs of ale that are sweeter than even the best ale of Camelot. Good choice, Drego," he said. "But will you spend all of it on ale? Surely you don't. It will be a huge amount of money, surely you cannot spend all of it on ale. What other thing you will spend it all on?" he asked.

"Where is this conversation going?" Morgana cut his speech. She was confused and it only made her even more scared. What was Henrick implying?

"Oh, my lady, you will see. In fact, you will partake in this discussion soon, I hope," Henrick replied with a fake, sickly sweet tone. He then went back to his speech, as if Morgana hadn't interrupted and he hadn't responded to her.

"You, Brom. Any idea? No? Well, let me give you a clue. We are all here free, prideful men with no wife. When we are lonely, what will our gold buy?" he spurred the men's imagination.

One of the men seemed to have caught on and answered, "You mean salty wenches, Henrick?"

Henrick gestured to the man and responded, "Ah, Brand, finally you get my idea. Beside ale, surely we will spend our gold on them lovely ladies in the tavern, right?" The men answered by chuckling and grunting. "To be honest, most of our gold will be spent on them than the ale, since they are far more... expensive than ale. Especially the fiery ones," he continued.

"But then, why should we bother paying them?" Henrick asked. At this point, the men started to get confused. Drego answered this time by half-repeating what Henrick told them earlier, "Because we are lonely. We prideful men should not feel lonely."

"True, Drego. I agree with you. But as you said, we are prideful men. And we are paying those ladies whose bodies have given pleasure to countless other men. Shouldn't we feel, I don't know, insulted by that?" he changed his tone to a fake hurt. "We are proud men, and we never know how it feels like to 'break' a woman, or at least, to be one of the first mento taste the flesh of a woman? Really, it hurt my feeling." Some men nodded and looked at each other in pity.

At this point, the clogs in Morgana's head turned and she finally got what Henrick wanted to tell his men. Her eyes widened in horror as she limped backwards, increasing the distance between Henrick and herself. "You wouldn't dare!" she shouted. But after a few paces, she was stopped by a pair of arms grabbing her forearms. She looked back to see Brom sneering at her.

"Oh, Lady Morgana, I dare. I have warned you not to test the limit of my patience, and soon you will pay," He whispered coldly to her before he addressed his men again. "Men, we have with us here a nice, young lady. A noble breed, too. And I dare guess, that she is still... What do people call it? Ah, innocent. What say you about being one of the first men to taste her flesh?"

_No! _Morgana's mind screamed.

"Yeah!" The men roared.

"No. Uther will have your heads," Morgana said as she watched the men closed in on her with lustful gaze.

Henrick laughed. "We are bandits, _my lady_. Criminals. He will have our heads whether we take your body or not."

"And your gold?" Morgana desperately asked.

Henrick laughed on her again. "You said it yourself, my lady. Uther is not the type that pays ransom. We might as well take what we can take. Anyway, we still could get our golds someway. Pillage some more village, attack a royal caravan, or maybe helped your king take down some smugglers. We'll get by. But this chance? Only once in a lifetime, right boys?" he ended his tirade of speech by addressing his men again. And the men replied with an enthusiastic chorus of, "Yeah!" and laughter.

"Now, who wants to break the Lady Morgana?"


	4. Chapter 3 The Blazing Hero

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Merlin. *whistling***

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**Chapter 3: The Blazing Hero**

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Merlin couldn't shake off the bad feeling he had in his heart. All morning, while he was slaving for the clotpole, his mind kept drifting off to the Lady Morgana and her pilgrimage. He couldn't help but to feel worried, like something bad would happen soon. Thinking about Morgana, his mind replayed for the thousandth time the intimate conversation he had with her a weeks ago in Gaius' chambers.

Actually, there was nothing intimate in their conversation. She was talking about her fear on her awakening magic. But he couldn't help but to feel an intimate situation at the time. They were the only people in the room at the time, and Morgana sounded really dependant on him at the time. He could still feel holding her wrists in his hands, and repeatedly said to her, "You can trust me, Morgana." They stood much closer than they usually did, and they were staring at each others' eyes for a long time. The conversation ended terribly, he knew. But still...

"Merlin! I need you to..." The prat called, attracting his attention, before dragging his sentence when he saw what the manservant was doing. "What are you doing?" Arthur asked with a half-disgusted-half confused expression. Merlin looked down at whatever his hands were doing.

He was standing right next to Arthur's dining table. A wet rug was on the table. But what made him furrowed his eyebrows, was that there was a loaf of bread in each of his hands, almost crushed. It took him a second to realise that he must have unconciously took the breads from Arthur's plate and hold them as if he was holding Morgana's wrists as he was daydreaming, or to be more precise, recalling a certain event.

He looked back at the Prince who was still standing at the opened door. "I... um..." he started to say, but he couldn't think of a reason to say to the Prince. Luckily, the Prat must be feeling really good today, since he only said, "You're useless, Merlin," and strolled right into his bedroom.

"Anyway, I need you to help Gaius with his perfume. I am planning to present it as a gift for someone tonight. You can forget mucking out the stable, the stable boy will take care of that, and the armour and swords will be taken care of by another servant," Arthur said.

"Yes, sire," Merlin answered. "Out of curiosity, which servant will polish your armour and swords?" Merlin asked as he walked out to the door.

"I don't know his name. He was a creepy one. Always walks around with overly neat outfit and has no wit at all. Really efficient, though, people say," Arthur said.

Merlin grinned at Arthur's response. He could picture which one Arthur was talking about, but just like Arthur, he didn't know the servant's name. He had never even spoken to the person. He only nodded and walked out of the door, heading right to Gaius' chambers.

"Alright, Gaius, what do you need for Arthur's perfume?" Merlin asked once he walked through the door to Gaius'. The old man didn't even look up from his work when he replied, "I need sage leaves, four-clover roots, lavenders, and some other flowers, Merlin."

"Don't you usually only need some flowers to make perfume, Gaius? You usually have other perfume ingredients ready," Merlin asked as he took the satchel on the table. This time, Gaius looked up from his boiling substance.

"I do, Merlin, but Sir John need some tonic to cure his aching knees, and since you are out flower-picking, I figure you could also pick some herb for his cure. Is there a problem, Merlin?" Gaius asked as he raised his eyebrows in such a fashion that nobody else can perfectly imitate. This time, Merlin translated the expression as, 'Just do as I say, Merlin, I am not in the mood.' Merlin chuckled.

"Having a bad time, Gaius?" Merlin asked. Gaius' expression relaxed at his question.

"Well, you remember Morgana's magic incident. It's still plaguing my mind. And then the increasing amount of work I do. As if it's not enough problem, Arthur suddenly begged me to make him this perfume. And then taking care of you...," he glared at Merlin fondly, yet accusingly, "is getting harder each day." Gaius sighed. "I'm fine, Merlin. I will be. Just give me some time. My old mind is still getting used to be burdened by this many thoughts," Gaius said with a tired smile on his face that Merlin couldn't help not to return.

"Well, I had better be going," Merlin exclaimed after a few moments of silence and then he walked to the door.

"And don't forget, I need my leech tank to be cleaned before tomorrow morning, Merlin," Merlin heard Gaius shouted as he was walking out the door. Merlin rolled his eyes as he chuckled. Cleaning Gaius' leech tank was never pleasant. He remembered the last time Gaius made him clean his leech tank without magic. It was all thanks to Arthur, who decided to prove himself at the jousting tournament by competing as someone else. At least this time, Gaius didn't say that he couldn't use magic.

Merlin looked out to the sky. It was maybe about an hour, or maybe an hour and a half, before noon. If he was lucky, he would be able to be back about an hour after noon to have his lunch. He wished himself good luck, since he didn't want to serve the Prat until nightfall with an empty stomach.

* * *

And Merlin was not lucky. There just had to be a disturbance in the market that caused the streets to be swarming with people, and made him unable to reach the forest quickly. Usually, with his long legs and quick feet, he could reach the forest in about half-an-hour, but this time, it took him about an hour.

He was just starting to scour the forest for herbs when he thought he faintly heard the noon bell sounded from the castle. Alas, he might be wrong. He was far enough from the castle. But looking at the position of the sun at the time, he was most likely right about this. It was maybe about noon. Maybe just a few minutes after noon.

He looked around the ground again. Supposedly, the lavender was around there. Ah! There it was. Right at the shore of that swamp. He giddily picked some of the lavender and put it in his satchel. Now he needed to look the sage leaves, four-clover roots, and some other flowers.

A feeling suddenly flashed in his heart. A forbidding feeling that usually appeared before something bad happens. What was it? Why was he feeling that? Merlin trusted his instinct and started walking around the forest, looking for something wrong, all herbs forgotten.

The next time he looked at the sun, he figured it might have been about half-an-hour after noon, and still no sign of trouble. Merlin sighed. He hadn't finished picking herbs, yet. In fact, his work was very far from done, and maybe in another half-an-hour, his lunch break would be over. Great. No lunch for him today. He shook his head and decided to go back to herb-picking.

He looked at the ground again, and crouched. Just as he reached the lowest position, he heard footsteps of someone running. A few seconds later, the footsteps were getting louder, and he could hear the sound of ragged breathing, followed by an exhausted cry of help. Merlin snapped his head so fast until he even wondered how his head was still attached to his shoulders. He recognised the voice. It was Gwen's.

"Gwen?" Merlin called.

"Merlin! Help!" he heard Gwen shouted, immediately followed by the appearance of the person about ten metres away from him. He instantly ran towards the girl. "Gwen, what happened?" he asked. Gwen was not focusing, and started to ramble incoherently, apparently from a combination of exhaustion and shock. Then he noticed that she was alone. "Gwen, where's Morgana?" he pressed and grabbed the forearms of the girl and shook it. "Gwen!" he shouted to get her to focus. That seemed to sober up the girl. She jerked and looked at Merlin in the eye. "Gwen, where is Morgana?" he asked again.

"Merlin, we were attacked. All of the knights are dead. They... They took Morgana and me, and then Morgana managed to devise a plan to escape, but she fell. She fell and sprained her leg. She made me go to get help. I... I don't know what else to do, Merlin. I shouldn't have left her alone, but I did. What if... What if they hurt her? Oh, no. I shouldn't have left her, what was I thinking?" she rambled on and on so quickly. Merlin was even surprised he didn't miss a word.

He shook her again and Gwen stopped her rambling. He tried to talk as calmly as he could, although his mind was in chaos. "Gwen, don't blame yourself, you did the right thing. Now I need you to run towards that direction...," Merlin pointed to the direction of the castle of Camelot, "and get Arthur to help, immediately. I want you to run as fast as you can. Don't think about anything else. Don't think about Morgana, just reach the castle and find Arthur as fast as you can. I will go and find Morgana. Which direction do you come from?"

As soon as Gwen's arm lifted to show him the direction, he sprinted towards the direction and shouted as loud as he could, "MORGANA!"

* * *

Morgana's mind wasn't working anymore. All she could think about was the pain and the word _No_. She could feel the blood trickling from her core, all the while also feeling the pain when the man on top of her roughly hit the inside of her womb. She could hear everything, but she couldn't register almost everything she heard. Most of the sound she could hear and register was the sound of her cry.

She noticed it was the fourth man already pounding inside her. She didn't know if it had been mere minutes or hours after they started ripping her shift and then her undergarment. They even had time to gamble on her pieces of clothing. But even if it was only hours at top, it felt like years for her.

She tried to fight. She had. But one against a dozen was futile. But the more she physically fought, the more painful it felt. She also tried to use her magic to attack the bandits, but she couldn't. She willed her magic to come forward, but it just didn't. She couldn't find her magic, and she still couldn't control it.

She felt a little relieved when she felt the man stopped thrusting and then her womb was, once again, filled with the disgusting liquid. At least he stopped pounding. Then the man collapsed on her for a second before he pulled out and stood. Her arms and legs were still pinned down by other men, and even if they released her arms and legs, she wasn't sure if she was even able to run.

Moments like these were the most hopeful, but at the same time, was the most dreadful. She was hopeful that they would stop. She had learnt her lesson, she wouldn't disobey them anymore. But then her hope was struck down when Henrick announced to the whole group again, "Who's next?"

Her mind travelled to Camelot. Had Gwen managed to reach Camelot to get help? If she had, who would come to save her? It would probably be Merlin. And of course, Arthur, with his knights behind him. Oh how she wished Merlin was there to help her. She wished for Merlin to be right here, fending off the bandits, or at least trying to, since he was not that talented with a sword. But even then, she would be so much grateful for his effort to save her.

Her train of thought stopped when another man pinned her and without even saying a word, entered her body. She cried out again. Her mind started to scream the same thing again. _No. Stop. _Over, and over, and over again.

In the midst of incoherent thoughts, the pain, and the loud, unregistered voices of the thugs, she heard a faint sound calling her name. Merlin. It was Merlin's voice. _Merlin. Merlin. _her mind started to cry. She didn't know if her mouth cried out the same name or not. She couldn't know. But she didn't stop crying out the name in her head.

_Merlin. Merlin. Help. Merlin. Merlin._

* * *

_Merlin. Merlin. Help. Merlin. Merlin. _he heard in his head. "Morgana..." he whispered. He fastened his pace. And then, not a moment later, he could hear the sound of loud cheering and laughter. Merlin's blood boiled. That must be the sound of the men who captured Morgana.

_MERLIN! _Morgana's scream in Merlin's head was really loud, until Merlin froze for a millisecond. It sounded like she was in great pain. No. No. No. Merlin's mind chanted as he continued running, even faster than before. What had they done to her? What was happening to her?

It took him less than one minute to reach the place. There were about a dozen men there. Four were under a tree, while the other scattered about the place, laughing and cheering. Some of them were waving pieces of white clothing. His attention was then focused on the group of four. One of them was facing down, another one was above the first man's head, and the other one was behind him. The last one was only standing over them, watching whatever vile thing they were doing with a smug expression. What broke his heart was the sight of the person pinned under the three men. It was Morgana. She was crying, and he could hear her cry got louder, more painful, everytime the man above her thrust his hips. And it didn't take a genius to put together all the pieces and found out what was happening.

If Merlin's blood boiled before, he was incensed now. How dare they did this to her?! How could they?!

"Hey!" he shouted, but nobody seemed to hear him. "HEY!" he repeated, this time, one by one, they stopped and looked at him. At first it was the spectators. He could then hear clearly Morgana's cries, and her rapist's grunts of pleasure. But seconds later, the rapist also stopped moving, probably because he realised nobody was cheering and laughing anymore.

"Release her," he hissed.

"Why should we? We were having fun," the one who was standing over the rape said. From his arrogant tone, Merlin concluded that he must have been the leader.

"I said, release her, or die," he shouted.

The men then laughed. "What? You are going to fight us for her? Look at you! You won't last a second," the leader said inbetween laughs.

Merlin clenched his fist. "Yes I will fight for her."

The men stopped laughing when they heard the seriousness in his voice. There was no fear in Merlin's voice. No uncertainty.

"Who are you anyway? Her servant?" the leader asked.

Merlin had just opened his mouth to speak when Morgana's faint voice started to be heard. "Merlin..." she said hoarsely. Merlin looked at her. She was looking at him with hope in her eyes. But moments later, her eyes were slowly shut. She was too weak now.

Without answering the bandits' question, he started to act out of anger. He felt her eyes shifted colour to gold as he waved his hand, and all the bandits who were watching flew and then crashed the ground soundly. He didn't need to even check if they were still alive. He knew they were dead instantly. Because that was what he had wanted them to be.

The remaining four bandits' eyes widened in fear. "You... You're a sorcerer!" the leader sputtered.

"Wrong," Merlin hissed menacingly as he walked slowly towards them. The man raping Morgana quickly pulled out of her and stood to fix his breeches. Merlin snorted bitterly. It was clear from their faces that they were scared of him.

"I am Emrys. And you have made a wrong decision to hurt someone I love."

The bandits started to run, but right after they turned around and took a step, Merlin lifted his arm and said coldly, "_Forbærnan_." As his eyes glowed gold, a blast of fire erupted from his palm towards the running bandits. Once they were hit, they fell and died, with only a mark burn on their backs to identify the cause of death.

As soon as the fire stopped erupting from his palm, he ran towards Morgana. He took off his leather jacket and put it on Morgana's body to cover her modesty. Merlin knew it was not enough, but for now, it was all he could do to respect her body. Even with the jacket on her, he could still see blood pooling on the ground under her pubic area. Merlin's heart clenched. How could they did this?!

"Merlin..." he heard Morgana called, and Merlin quickly cradled Morgana's head. Her eyes slowly opened, and she stared right at Merlin's eyes.

"Morgana..." Merlin replied.

"Merlin, where are they?" she managed to asked as more tears streamed down her face.

Merlin shushed her and whispered, "Don't cry, Morgana, don't cry. You're safe. They are no more, Morgana. Shhhh..."

Morgana's eyes slightly widened when she heard Merlin said the bandits were no more. Did he mean they were dead?

"Are they..."

"Yes, they're dead, Morgana. You're safe now."

"You killed them?" Morgana stared at Merlin's eyes again.

Merlin didn't answer her. He could only say, "They deserve it."

Morgana sighed and finally said, "Thank you, Merlin."

"We have to wait here, Morgana. Arthur is coming. I'm sure he is. I've told Gwen..." Merlin stopped his sentence when he saw Morgana's eyes widened in horror. "Morgana, what is it?" Merlin asked instantly.

"No, you have to take me home before they found us. I... I don't want them to see me like this, Merlin. Please. You have to take me home. Please, Merlin..."

"Shhh... I will, Morgana. I will, if that is what you want," Merlin cut her ramblings. At this time, whatever she wanted, whatever it was, he would grant it to her. Except maybe her death.

For the second time that day, Morgana's eyes were full of gratitude as she said, "Thank you, so much, Merlin." The sad-yet-relieved smile on her face at the time made Merlin unable to not return it.

"Can you walk?" Merlin asked her.

"No, I don't think so. The pain..." she answered. Merlin nodded. He lifted her up on his arms and staggered for a while as he tried to gain balance before he started walking. He could only hope that he could find a wild horse to ride, and hopefully, when he did, he would be able to tame the horse.

* * *

Merlin had been staggering with Morgana on his arms for quite a long time. Their journey was slow, because to be honest, Merlin was never known for his physical forte. He had been cheating once in a while with his magic to help him, but if he really wanted to keep up his I'm-not-magical charade, he couldn't keep cheating. And now, he felt his arms were sore, and he was afraid that he couldn't lift her up for much longer. He was afraid that he would drop her. So he decided to rest for a while before he started walking again. He lowered her to the ground to rest under a tree and then stood up to stretched his muscles.

It was a really good luck that he heard the faint panicked voice of Gwen and Arthur and the sound of many horses. Merlin crouched so he could be on the same level with Morgana, who was leaning on the tree. "Morgana, Arthur's coming," he said. Morgana's eyes snapped open in panic. Merlin quickly said, "No, no, no, no. I was only going to meet them to borrow a horse or two. I won't be long, and then I will go back here to pick you up."

Morgana's eyes were disapproving. "Merlin, please, don't leave me alone."

"I cannot carry you all the way back to Camelot, Morgana, we need a horse. And that is the only way to get one or two. Please, Morgana. I promise I won't be long," Merlin explained hurriedly before Arthur showed up too near.

Morgana reluctantly nodded and Merlin quickly bolted to the source of the sound.

"Arthur, Gwen," he called as he ran towards the horses. Just as he was hoping, they stopped riding. Gwen quickly jumped down from her horse. "Merlin! Did you find her? Is she safe, Merlin?" she bombarded him with questions.

"It's... hard to explain," Merlin said. At this time, Arthur had already climbed down from his horse too.

"Those were simple yes-or-no questions, Merlin, surely those weren't that hard to answer," he said, worry clearly etched on his face.

"Well, in black-and-white condition, I did find her, and right now, she is safe, but..." Merlin dragged on.

"But what, Merlin?" Gwen demanded.

"She doesn't want to meet you all, and she is badly hurt," Merlin tried to explain it without mentioning the rape. He guessed that the reason Morgana didn't want to see them was because she didn't want the story of her rape to spread yet.

"Badly hurt? How? Where is she?" Arthur tried to push Merlin away to see Morgana, but Merlin didn't move from his place.

"Arthur, she is in no condition to see you," Merlin said.

"But she is in the condition to see _you_?" Arthur annoyedly asked.

"Fine, let me rephrase. She refuses to be seen by you," Merlin said.

"And she doesn't refuse to be seen by you?" this time it was Gwen who asked.

"It... It was complicated. I... Just lend me a horse to bring her back to Camelot and then I will explain it once she had medical attention," Merlin agitatedly said.

Arthur opened his mouth to retort back, but Merlin quickly cut him, "Just trust me, Arthur. Lend me the horse."

Arthur looked unsure. He looked at Gwen to seek reassurance, and to Merlin's relief, Gwen reluctantly nodded. Arthur looked back at the knights and said, "Give him a horse."

One of the knights unmounted his horse and led the horse to Merlin. Merlin nodded to the knight in gratitude. "Now, where's Morgana?" Arthur asked Merlin.

"She's just there. Don't worry, she's safe. Oh, and, may I have your cape?" Merlin asked. Arthur furrowed his eyebrows comically. "What for, Merlin?"

"I need it for Morgana, Arthur. Just take it off and give it to me," Merlin reached out his arm. Arthur reluctantly took his cape off and gave it to Merlin. His face was contorted in confusion. Without saying a word, he helped Gwen on her horse and mounted his own horse before he looked at Merlin again and said, "You owe me an explanation."

"Yes, sire," Merlin replied.

As soon as they were gone, Merlin led the horse to where he left Morgana. Now he had a horse, and a cape to cover Morgana more thoroughly. The journey would be easier from now on.

* * *

**A.N.: I'm sorry if this chapter is even less logical than the last one, I AM SOOOO SORRY!**


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